Veteran ISTPs, can you share your story of recovery from the WTF years?

This comment was posted to reddit on May 01, 2015 at 3:35 pm and was deleted within 6 hour(s) and 2 minutes.

Veteran ISTPs, can you share your story of recovery from the WTF years?

Oh, long story.

I'm actually quite intelligent, said a psychiatrist many years ago. Thing is, I really dislike doing the same thing for a while. I need to switch my interest every so years.

So I went to high-school like an uber nerd. I got high grades and everything, but I still sensed something was missing. I was missing out on life. So by the time I graduated, I was turning into a whole other person. I bought a scooter with which I drove like a maniac through time, I started to drink and do drugs a lot and I found out my love for metal music and grew my hair.

In high-school I decided I wanted to be an aircraft engineer. Turned out I had no patience for the difficult thing I had to learn. I'd rather got high/drunk with friends and do stupid shit.

Actually at the beginning at the year I knew I would fail, but I embraced it because it would mean that I would have more freedom by not going to school.

Next year I needed to choose something, not really interested in school but forced by government regulation I took another education. This time in Aviation Operations. Which I actually managed to keep up for 2 years before dropping out yet again.

Then around this time I got severly depressed, I noticed my way of life wasn't exactly keeping me happy. Following the rules of society wasn't either. So what did make me happy except for the enormous amount of drugs and alcohol I was consuming at this point? I figured I needed to go to a higher level of high-school education for adults. Which I again did for two years after dropping out, this time it wasn't the lack of motivation that caused me to drop out but my struggles with addiction and depression.

After that I wasn't obliged by the government to follow an education any longer. So I basically did nothing, except for laying in my bed till midday and drinking myself to sleep from the moment I woke up.

After a year I had enough, it wasn't how I wanted to live my life. I had to do something. Considering my little brother just got a diploma in sound and light technology for stages I figured I could do the same. And I actually like it, and the relaxed working environment it comes with, so next month I'll finally be getting my diploma :)

Was it hard adjusting to a class full of 16-year olds? Not at all actually, I actually connected with them quite well. Minus the part were I feel like I'm a lot more mature than them, but it comes with a lot of parts I can laugh at.